<p>My D and I visited UCLA and fell in love with the campus. What a beautiful place. But now that we're back home, it's time to get practical. Is there any reason to pay out of state tuition for engineering at UCLA versus in-state tuition for engineering at UT Austin? I'm having a hard time justifying the difference in cost. When you come right down to it, is there ever a reason to pay out of state tuition for any other large, public university when you can pay in-state tuition at your own state's large, public university?</p>
<p>No. UT Austin is also highly rated, not quite as high as UCLA, but the difference doesnt justify cost for instate. IMHO.</p>
<p>What is the engineering major? UT is highly ranked in several of them, probably ahead of UCLA.</p>
<p>When it comes down to it, for a Texan, Caltech and Stanford cost the same as UCLA and Berkeley if you prefer to stay non-resident for 4 years in Cal with no scholarships. If your daughter has no interest in medicine, she could easily become a resident after the first year if UCLA is absolutely your choice. It means you spend an extra 20-25k the first year.</p>
<p>Btw, I know some kids who refused to apply elsewhere after visiting UT because they loved the campus so much and they were automatically in.</p>
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<p>Huh? There are a couple of thoughts in there, but I don’t think any of them are right. As far as I know, if you are a nonresident when you first register as an undergraduate at a UC, you will be a nonresident forever unless, perhaps, your parents clearly move to California and stay there for more than a year. A substantial break after a bachelor’s degree, with continued residence and employment in California, would probably cure the situation for graduate school.</p>
<p>Here’s what a UC website says, in relevant part:</p>
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<p>“Self-sufficiency” means providing one’s own support, including tuition, from employment or credit (or, presumably, assets) for the year prior to determination. Note also that the determination date is always the fourth week of the prior semester. Even if a student did everything right (including self-sufficiency), if she moved to California in August 2011 she would not be eligible for resident tuition until her fourth semester beginning in January 2013.</p>
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<p>Ever? Yes, there certainly can exist situations where it can make sense to go out of state.</p>
<p>If your in-state public is UT Austin? Very unlikely unless the cost difference is eliminated through financial aid / scholarships or does not matter.</p>
<p>JHS,</p>
<p>Texas has something like 1400 medical seats which are 85-90% reserved for residents. So clearly, Texas residency has an advantage. </p>
<p>I have attended counselor sessions at UCLA and Berkeley last year where they mentioned that out of staters can become instate (nothing stopping this girl from moving into California end of May when schools close in Texas btw and working in the local grocery store to establish residency) by the second year if they follow the processes. </p>
<p>I do know one kid from Texas who went to USC (where residency did nt make any difference) who was comtemplating becoming a resident in his last year in order to make use of Cal’s own medical school reservations for residents. Ultimately he chose not to and came back to texas for medical school. I was told that one of the qualifiers was as simple as getting a Cal license (based on your posting, it does seem more complicated than that - have they changed rules in the last year?).</p>
<p>^^Unfortunately there are reasons. Some states have pretty poor educational systems and the quality of out-of-state flagships can be a whole lot higher. Couple that with the lack of work for graduates in some states and I can see lots of rational reasons (Arkansas, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Wyoming… come to mind).
But UT Austin vs a UC - no rational reason at all unless there are big financial incentives to go out of state. If you want to spend money for a beautiful campus why not consider Rice or Vandy - they are close and beautiful, but if your D wants a big-college engineering experience UT is almost unbeatable at ANY cost.</p>
<p>Texas…</p>
<p>I don’t care what you heard. It is not easy to gain residency in Calif if you’re under 24 and your parents are living elsewhere.</p>
<p>There is NO WAY this student could demonstrate that SHE ALONE is paying the $50k per year for her first year at UCLA. She would have to demonstrate COMPLETE financial independence from parents plus other things as well. </p>
<p>Back to the OP.</p>
<p>NO…UCLA is not worth the money. Not at all. And, I’m a California native. Besides, it’s not unusual for an eng’g major at a UC to take more than 4 years.</p>
<p>I guess it means the adcoms are misleading potential students in the UC system.</p>
<p>Thanks - You are all confirming what I pretty much thought. D is majoring in biomedical engineering and is hoping to go on to med school. I am not at all familiar with this process - can someone explain the “reserved seats” that have been mentioned. What does this mean? Where are the seats reserved? Oh, and yes, we are also considering Rice, along with one Ivy (but not sure I want to pay the money for that). Unfortunately, she didn’t get into Stanford, as we would have seriously considered paying for that. But UCLA? I just can’t see paying the price versus in-state tuition at UT (and I am concerned about budget cuts that could cause out of state tuition at UCLA to really skyrocket). Also, if it takes an extra semester or two at UT, that won’t hurt as much as an extra semester or two at UCLA.</p>
<p>It means most of the admits to a UT med school will be from instate as they have reserved most of the spots for state residents. As long as you maintain state residency you could go to undergrad anywhere you want and still apply as a Texas resident.</p>
<p>I see some Californians are mad that their 2 flagships UCB and UCLA are admitting more out of state students than in states, after all, they are paying the state taxes. </p>
<p>That said. back to the OP, I would not pay any OOS tuition for a big school if our flagship is as good or better, why do it.
There are however, couple of those schools that I may consider paying OOS tuition, such as ComputerScience or Electrical Engineering at UIUC or LA majors at University of Michigan.</p>
<p>Keirasmom - It is what Barron said. As long as your D maintains Texas residency no matter where she goes to school, all Texas medical schools are required to admit 90% (somewhere there) qualified Texas residents. </p>
<p>Biomed at UT is highly popular and about 50% (someone gave me that number and so I dont know its accuracy) end up in UT Southwest medical school in Dallas.</p>
<p>There are several connections between UT and Rice BioE depts.</p>
<p>[West</a>, Jennifer : Rice University Department of Bioengineering](<a href=“http://bioengineering.rice.edu/faculty/Jennifer_West.aspx]West”>http://bioengineering.rice.edu/faculty/Jennifer_West.aspx)</p>
<p>[HHMI</a> Scientist Bio: Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D.](<a href=“http://www.hhmi.org/grants/professors/richards-kortum_bio.html]HHMI”>http://www.hhmi.org/grants/professors/richards-kortum_bio.html)</p>
<p>At Rice, you can pretty much guarantee graduating in 4 years, unless you are a 5-year architecture student, or change majors late in the game. Re: UCLA vs. UT. UT in a heartbeat. If affordable and you prefer a smaller school and more cohesive academic and social community, Rice over UT, anyday. :)</p>
<p>At UT I believe you can graduate even in three years since all AP credits are accepted.</p>
<p>I have heard of people being classified as juniors after their first semester.</p>
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I don’t think it’s possible to do this for undergrad or else almost every OOS UG student would be doing it to pay IS tuition after the first year. </p>
<p>I think you’re probably referring to med school or some other grad programs. Some states (I’m not sure about California) allow for students in some grad programs to become IS residents after a year in the way you describe. Might that have been what the counselor said and what you’re referring to?</p>
<p>Regarding UCLA vs UT-A engineering - financially I don’t think it makes any sense. My D attended UCLA engineering but had I been a Texan with the choices of these two the choice would likely have been UT-A. The exception might be if one is wealthy enough that the cost difference isn’t much of a factor to them. </p>
<p>Maybe your S can consider getting his UG degree at UT and then going to UCLA for grad school. If he wanted a grad degree in BioE, or a UC OOS as BioE he should take a look at UCSD since it has one of the top ranked programs in the country in BioE.</p>
<p>No sir - we were definitely attending a undergrad admissions overview at Cal.</p>
<p>Eitherway, it sounds like Cal is as hard to become a resident as Texas. </p>
<p>I did hear of a guy buying a condo in Houston to become a resident to pay instate at Baylor college of medicine. I also know a CA kid who got instate tuition as a scholarship at UT Houston Medical school. He said it was a bit common to award them since 90% are in state already.</p>
<p>texasspg:</p>
<p>It is rather easy for grad students to obtain California residency, but not undergrad. BIG difference (which is true in many states). The reason grad students can gain residency is that they are considered financially self-sufficient, through fellowships/stipends/TA jobs and/or GRAD Plus loans.</p>
<p>To the OP: heck no. OTOH, Cal-Engineering, which is top 3 (with Stanford & MIT) might be worth the OOS fee if money is not an issue…</p>
<p>^^ But for BioE I think UCSD outranks UCB.</p>
<p>Right - UCSD #5, Cal not in ten.</p>
<p>[Biomedical</a> | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-biological-biomedical]Biomedical”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-biological-biomedical)</p>